Apparatus used with a stud earring

ABSTRACT

An apparatus used with a stud earring is presented. The apparatus has an elongate body having an upper end, a lower end, a front surface, and a back surface. The apparatus further has an attachment means having a front side and a back side. The attachment means is generally located at said upper end of the elongate body and the front side of the attachment means is removably coupled to a back end of the stud earring by a securing means. The securing means is removably coupled to the back side of the attachment means of the elongate body. The elongated body may have a design which can be easily removed and replaced. Further it may also or alternatively have coupling coupled to the lower end of the elongated body.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to earrings. More particularly, it relates toearring accessories.

BACKGROUND

Most earrings, broaches, necklaces, and other such ornaments are craftedusing precious metals or other such materials that facilitate generationof luster. In addition, stratagems are employed at such ornaments toheighten visual attractiveness and decorativeness as an ornament,surfaces thereof being polished and also being imparted with complexshape or the like to constitute jewelry members and produce sensationsof luster and/or brilliance in the viewer. As one stratagem to furtherheighten visual attractiveness and decorativeness of a jewelry member inan ornament, the jewelry member of the ornament is such that preciousmetals or other such materials that facilitate generation of luster areemployed in combination with gemstone(s). Known among the gemstones thatmay be employed here are those which, regardless of whether they arenatural materials or artificial materials, have surfaces that aretypically well-polished, and which are therefore capable of producingstrong sensations of luster and/or brilliance in viewers and which,moreover, depending on material, may have been cut in complex fashion toconstitute multifaceted surfaces, as a result of which it is not onlythe case that light is reflected from the surface thereof but also thatlight which has entered the interior thereof is refracted in complexfashion and undergoes diffuse reflection to produce the attribute offire in complex fashion. As a result of adoption of such stratagems, bymaking it possible to produce in the viewer not only the superficialsensations of brilliance and/or luster but also the more profoundsensation of fire and so forth, it is possible to employ these togenerate the visual attractiveness and decorativeness that are desirablein ornaments.

However, the foregoing ornaments have conventionally had structures inwhich the jewelry member is fixed to the ornament. These have thereforebeen lacking in variation when viewed from the same location, thedirection of the light reflected thereto from the jewelry member of theornament tending not to change unless the angle at which light isincident on the jewelry member of the ornament changes, or the personwearing the ornament moves, or the person viewing the ornament altershis or her position. For this reason, in situations where such movementor variation has been lacking, while the viewer of the ornament may havebeen able to sense the luster and/or brilliance of the ornament, therehas been inadequate ability to adequately sense the fire thereof, and ithas not always been the case that the beauty thereof was able to bebrought forth to the desired agree and made manifest. It has been hardto avoid situations in which visual attractiveness and decorativeness asan ornament have been impaired rather than enhanced, resulting inconcern that the perceived value thereof may have been reduced.

Various proposals have therefore been made in attempts to achieve astructure in which the jewelry member of the ornament is made partiallymovable with the intention of causing the visual attractiveness anddecorativeness of the ornament to be adequately manifested and the valuethereof to be thoroughly brought forth.

For example, in the context of a personal accessory, an oscillatingornament has been proposed in which at least a link at one side of apendent ring attached to an oscillating body having a jewelry member ora suspended loop supported by a human body by way of a plurality oflegs, chains, or other such support means is made to have rectangularcross-sectional shape, and a part in linked contact with the paired mateof this rectangular portion is made to have a shape that is sharpened soas to be of convex arcuate cross-sectional shape (see Patent ReferenceNo. 1). This oscillating personal accessory is intended to be such thatby causing the load of the jewelry member to be supported by a linkcomprising a rectangular cross-sectional shape and a convex arcuatecross-sectional shape, any slight movement of the body, slight breeze,or the like is supposed to cause the jewelry member to pivot, as aresult of which the brilliance of the jewelry member is supposed to bemanifested more than was the case conventionally.

However, with the aforementioned proposed personal accessory, it isdifficult to achieve precision high enough to cause the contact regionshape at the link to engage in line contact, and so what issubstantially surface contact occurs instead. For this reason, contactresistance has in practice been high, and it cannot be said that thishas been sufficient for obtaining adequately repeatable swinging of thejewelry member. For this reason, because the visually perceptible firehas been of low frequency and has been weak, and the swinging dies downalmost immediately, it still cannot be said that this has beensufficient to permit the visual attractiveness and decorativenessinherent in the jewelry member to be brought forth to the desired agreeand made manifest.

As another mechanism therefor, in the context of a personal accessory,an oscillating personal accessory has been proposed in which a jewelrymember is suspended by a retaining fixture after the fashion ofgymnastic rings from two points to the left and right diagonally abovethe center of the ornamental item, the body of the ornamental item beingarranged so as to be inclined slightly diagonally upward, with theexpectation that this will facilitate oscillation of the jewelry member.

However, because this oscillating personal accessory has a structure inwhich a jewelry member is supported as a result of being suspended fromtwo points to the left and right diagonally thereabove, oscillationthereof is restricted to the direction of rotation about the axis formedby where it is held in place from the left and right. This being thecase, the directions in which oscillation can be imparted thereto arelimited, and as rotation to the left and right is difficult, beingunable to engage in rotation to the left and right, swinging in thatdirection is small and is not sustained.

Moreover, while fire generated by a jewelry member produced as a resultof minute swinging can be visually perceived when the person who isvisually perceiving the jewelry member is directly facing the jewelrymember, difficulty occurs in attempting to visually perceive the luster,brilliance, and fire generated by the jewelry member when the person whois visually perceiving the jewelry member does not directly face thejewelry member but is viewing it from the side or from a diagonaldirection, and so its visual attractiveness and decorativeness asoscillating personal accessory have not been adequately satisfactory.For example, where the personal accessory is employed near the ear as isthe case with an earring or stud earring, because the swinging memberwould be located to the side of the face, a person located in front ofthe wearer would likely find it difficult to directly face the jewelrymember, and so one could not easily expect to be able to adequatelycatch sight of the fire.

As described above, with the ornaments having movable jewelry membersthat have been proposed to date, because oscillations are easilyinterrupted, because there is directionality to the directions in whichswinging can occur, and because there is limited tendency to oscillate,the structure has not been such as to permit the luster, brilliance, andfire generated from the movable jewelry member to be visually perceivedadequately and for a long time from a wide variety of directions instable fashion, and from the standpoint of a structure permitting thedesired visual attractiveness of the ornament to be manifestedregardless of which direction it is viewed from, these have still notprovided adequate satisfaction. Further improvement is therefore to bedesired.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1A is an illustrated front view of an exemplary apparatus used witha stud earring.

FIG. 1B is an illustrated back view of the exemplary apparatus used witha stud earring of FIG. 1A.

FIG. 2 is a first illustrated example of the apparatus used with a studearring of FIG. 1 with design.

FIG. 3 is an illustrated view of the apparatus used with a stud earringwith an attachment means.

FIG. 4 is an example of the apparatus used with a stud earring withdesign of FIG. 2 being worn.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The phrases “in one embodiment,” “in various embodiments,” “in someembodiments,” and the like are used repeatedly. Such phrases do notnecessarily refer to the same embodiment. The terms “comprising,”“having,” and “including” are synonymous, unless the context dictatesotherwise. Such terms do not generally signify a closed list.

“Above,” “adhesive,” “affixing,” “any,” “around,” “both,” “bottom,”“by,” “comprising,” “consistent,” “customized,” “enclosing,” “friction,”“in,” “labeled,” “lower,” “magnetic,” “marked,” “new,” “nominal,” “not,”“of,” “other,” “outside,” “outwardly,” “particular,” “permanently,”“preventing,” “raised,” “respectively,” “reversibly,” “round,” “square,”“substantial,” “supporting,” “surrounded,” “surrounding,” “threaded,”“to,” “top,” “using,” “wherein,” “with,” or other such descriptorsherein are used in their normal yes-or-no sense, not as terms of degree,unless context dictates otherwise.

Reference is now made in detail to the description of the embodiments asillustrated in the drawings. While embodiments are described inconnection with the drawings and related descriptions, there is nointent to limit the scope to the embodiments disclosed herein. On thecontrary, the intent is to cover all alternatives, modifications andequivalents. In alternate embodiments, additional devices, orcombinations of illustrated devices, may be added to, or combined,without limiting the scope to the embodiments disclosed herein.

Referring to FIG. 1A and FIG. 1B, an exemplary earring 1 is shown. Theearring 1 is useful for providing a mechanism such that earring designsand styles can hi-lite the aesthetic beauty of a woman or man wearingthe earring 1.

The earring 1 has a stud earring 110. The stud earring 110 can be anytype of stud earring 110 in which the apparatus 100 can attach to. Thestud earring 110 can be made of gold, silver, any other metal, plasticor wood product. The stud earring 110 is preferably circular but mayhave any shape that a user desire.

In FIG. 1B, the stud earring 110 has a stud post 111. The stud post 111is useful in securing the stud earring 110 thru a piercing in an ear orother portion of a body. The stud post 111 is pushed thru the piercingin the ear and is secured using a locking mechanism, such as the studlock 112 shown in FIG. 1B.

A securing means such as the stud post 111 of the stud earring 110 isgenerally found on the backside 160 of the earring 110. This isgenerally for aesthetic purposes so to hide the stud post 111 from beingeasily seen and to promote the artwork of the earring 1.

The earring 1 further has an apparatus 100. The apparatus 100 is usefulfor providing a mechanism such that earring designs and styles can bechanged out quickly and easily. Thus, a different, up to date look iseasily obtainable by young and old alike.

The apparatus 100 has an elongated body 120. The elongated body 120 hasan upper end 190, a lower end 140, a front surface 150 and a back side160. The elongated body 120 may be oblong, oval, round, etc. Theattachment means 310 may be integral or otherwise with the elongatedbody 120.

The apparatus 100 has an attachment means 310 of FIG. 3. The attachmentmeans 310 is located on substantially the upper end 190 of the elongatedbody 120 of the apparatus 100. The attachment means 310 is preferably beintegral with or may be coupled to the upper end 190 of the elongatedbody 120.

The upper end 190 of the elongated body 120 of the apparatus isremovably coupled to the stud earring 110 on the back end 160. Thecoupling of the apparatus 100 to the stud earring 110 on the back end160 allows for the apparatus to use the stud post 111 as a securingmeans and to be hidden from sight of others.

The securing means is shown in FIG. 1B as the stud post 111 but may beany other type of attachment means that one may find on earrings. Thesecuring means also has a locking means for securing the stud earring110 with the apparatus 100 to the ear of a user and prevent the lose ofthe earring 1.

The elongated body 120 may have one or more couplings 210. The couplings210 may be for aesthetic purposes or may be useful for other means. Theone or more couplings 210 are coupled to the elongated body 120 at thelower end 140 of the elongated body 120. Thus, the couplings 210 maydangle or be more exposed for others to view. If there is more than onecoupling 210, the couplings 210 may be the same or may be different. Thecouplings 210 could be gold chain, trinkets, charms, etc.

Moving now to FIG. 2, a earring 1 with a design is show. The apparatus100 of FIG. 1 has an attachment means 111 at the upper end 190 thatsecures it to the stud earring 110.

The elongated body 120 of the apparatus 100 has a design 220. The design220 is clearly visible on the front surface 150 of the elongated body120 of the apparatus. The design 220 can be any design or any type ofitem that a user wishes. The design 220 could be a sports team logo, across.

Moving now to FIG. 3, an earring 3 is shown which is coupled to anattachment means 310. The apparatus 100 has the attachment means 310 andan elongated body 320. The elongated body 320 may be round, oval,oblong, etc.

The elongated body 320 of the apparatus 100 has an upper end 322 and alower end 324. The upper end 322 of the elongated body 320 is coupled tothe attachment means 310. The attachment means 310 may be integral tothe upper end of the elongated body 320 or may be coupled by othermeans.

The attachment means 310 has a front side 330 and a backside 340. Theattachment means 310 may be suitable for a necklace 350, chain or othermethod or means to secure the apparatus 100 to a user. The elongatedbody 320 may contain a design 220 or one or more coupling 210. The oneor more couplings 210 could be securely attached to the lower end 324 ofthe elongated body 320.

If a necklace 350 or chain, the necklace 350 or chain may have a clasp352 to secure the necklace 350 or chain after the necklace 350 or chainas be coupled to the attachment means 310.

Now moving to FIG. 4, an example of the earring 1 is shown being worn onan ear 402. The ear 402 has an earlobe 404 and a lower earlobe 404. Thelower earlobe 404 is generally where people wear earring 1 on their ear402, but may be located in different locations on the ear 402 or otherportions of their body.

The apparatus 100 has an elongated body 120, the elongated body has anupper end 190. The upper end 190 of the elongated body 120 of theapparatus 100 is secured by the attachment means 111 of the stud earring110. The stud earring is then secured to the ear 402 thru a piercing inthe ear 402 and secured by the stud lock 112 of FIG. 1B.

The elongated body 120 of the apparatus 100 has a design 220. The design220 of the elongated body 120 of the apparatus 100 is shown as a sportsteam logo but may be easily changed out to a cross, or other designsquickly and easily.

In the numbered clauses below, specific combinations of aspects andembodiments are articulated in a shorthand form such that (1) accordingto respective embodiments, for each instance in which a “component” orother such identifiers appear to be introduced (with “a” or “an,” e.g.)more than once in a given chain of clauses, such designations may eitheridentify the same entity or distinct entities; and (2) what might becalled “dependent” clauses below may or may not incorporate, inrespective embodiments, the features of “independent” clauses to whichthey refer or other features described above.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the foregoing specificexemplary processes and/or devices and/or technologies arerepresentative of more general processes and/or devices and/ortechnologies taught elsewhere herein, such as in the claims filedherewith and/or elsewhere in the present application.

The features described with respect to one embodiment may be applied toother embodiments or combined with or interchanged with the features ofother embodiments, as appropriate, without departing from the scope ofthe present invention.

Other embodiments of the invention will be apparent to those skilled inthe art from consideration of the specification and practice of theinvention disclosed herein. It is intended that the specification andexamples be considered as exemplary only, with a true scope and spiritof the invention being indicated by the following claims.

1. An apparatus used with a stud earring, said apparatus comprising: anelongate body having an upper end, a lower end, a front surface, and aback surface; an attachment means having a front side and a back side,said attachment means located at said upper end of said elongate bodyand wherein said front side of said attachment means is coupled to aback end of said stud earring; a securing means, said securing meanscoupled to said back side of said attachment means of said elongatebody.
 2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said elongate body is oval inshape.
 3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said attachment means isintegral to said upper end of said elongate body.
 4. The apparatus ofclaim 1, wherein said attachment means is coupled to said upper end ofsaid elongate body.
 5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said elongatebody further comprises at least one coupling.
 6. The apparatus of claim5, wherein said at least one coupling comprises a gold chain.
 7. Theapparatus of claim 1, wherein said elongate body includes a design. 8.The apparatus of claim 7, wherein said design is located on said frontsurface of said elongate body.
 9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein saiddesign is a logo of a sports team.
 10. The apparatus of claim 7, whereinsaid design is a cross.